Valve mechanism for blowing-engines.



No. 766,732. 7 PATENTED AUG. 2, 1904. B. G. RUST.

VALVE MECHANISM FOR BLOWING ENGINES.

APPLIOATION mum MAY 13, 1902. A

no MODEL. a sums-sans": 1.

PATENTED AUG. 2, 1904.

B. G. RUST. VALVE MECHANISM FOR BLOWING ENGINES.

APPLIOATIOH YILBD MATH, 1902.

3 BHBETB-BHEBT 2.

H0 MODEL.

PATENTED AUG. 2, 1904.

E. G. RUST. VALVE MECHANISM FOR BLOWING ENGINES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 13, 1902.

H0 MODEL.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

UNTTED STATES Patented August 2, 1904.

Fines.

PATENT VALVE MECHANISM FOR BLOWING-ENGINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 766,? 32, dated August2, 1904.

Ljplieation filed May 13, 1902. Serial No. 107,113. (No model.)

1'0 (0/6 w/tom/ it 111,04 concern:

Be it known that I, EDWIN Gr. RUST, a citizen of the United States, anda resident of Pueblo, Colorado, have invented certain Improvements inValve Mechanism for Blowing-Engines, of which the following is aspecification.

My invention relates to certain improvements in valve operatingmechanism, and more particularly consists in an improved arrangement ofparts for use in connection with the compressing-cylinder of an engineespeciall y designed for supplying air or gas under pressure.

The object of my invention is to provide a device of the characterdescribed in which the dead-space or clearance in thecompressingcylinder is reduced to a minimum, the construction being suchthat the inlet and the discharge valves are balanced.

A further object of the invention is to provide means whereby the pointof opening of the discharge-valves, and therefore the pressure at whichthe air is delivered, may be varied at will.

Another object of the invention is to provide mechanism connected to thedischargevalve for automatically indicating the opening position of saidvalve, and therefore the pressure at which the air is being deliveredfrom the compressor.

These objects I attain as hereinafter set forth, reference being had tothe accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation, partlyin section, of an engine and its compressor, illustrating the valve-gearand my improved arrangement of inlet and discharge valves. Fig. 2 is aslightly-enlarged plan view of the upper portion of thecompressor-cylinder shown in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a sectional elevationthrough the compressor-cylinder and the admission and discharge valves,the same being taken on the line 3 3, Fig. 2: and Fig. 4: is a sectionalelevation, on an enlarged scale, of a portion of the mechanism shown inFig. 3, the same illustrating in detail the construction of one of theinlet-valves with its corresponding dischargevalve.

In the above drawings, A is the main frame of the engine proper, whichis shown of the vertical type and is provided with a steamcylinder A ofany desired construction. Oarried upon said cylinder is thecompressorcylinder B, in which operates a piston 13'', connected, bymeans of apiston-rod 7), to the piston (not shown) within theengine-cylinder, it being understood that the engine is provided withpiston and connecting rods, which are connected to the main shaft (4 inthe wellknown manner common to engines.

In addition to the necessary mechanism for operating the engine there isan eccentric a for operating the air-valve mechanism provided with astrap a, hold by means of a link a to a fixed point on the engine-frameand provided with a slotted projection a", the whole forming what isknown as an Allen link, it being understood that while such link-motionis a very desirable form I do not confine myself to the same, sincethere are others by which the same results can be obtained as, forexample, the Marshall.

It will be seen that each of the ends or heads of thecompressor-cylindcr is provided with two sets of inlet and dischargevalves, each set consisting of a single inlet and a single dischargevalve, as shown in Fig. 3. These valves are preferably operated from twoindependent wrist-plates 7/ and 0, (shown by dotted lines in Fig. 1,)the first of these, which operates the inlet-valves, beingconnected,through a rod 5 lever If, rod 7/, bell-crank leverb, and link 6 to apoint on the strap a? on the eccentric. The second of the wrist-platesc, which operates the discharge-valves, is connected, through the rod 0lever 0 and rod 0, to a block a, sliding in a slot in the projectingportion a of the strap (o forming part of the operating link-motion.

A bar (Z extends from near the lower end of the rod 0* to one arm of thebell-crank lever (1', the other arm of said lever being connected, bymeans of a rod (Z to a pivoted operating-arm (Z One of the arms of thebellcrank lever (Z' is formed into an indicatorpoint, and there is ascale CZ fastened to the engine-frame and adjacent to said point, for apurpose hereinafter to be described.

Passing now to that portion of the valve mechanism upon thecompressor-cylinder B,

it will be seen that there are projections or standards 6 from the topand bottom, respectively, of the castings forming the heads of thecylinder B, the said standards carrying spindles or shafts e, which havefixed to them arms 6, connected by links or rods 0 to the wrist-plate 0.These shafts also have on them cams 6 (shown in Figs. 1 and 2,) andthere are forked levers e carried upon the standard 6 each having oneend pinned to a sliding cross head 0, connected to a valve rod f,attached to the discharge-valves F, While their forked ends are providedwith rollers 6 bearing upon the peripheries of the saidcams.

From Figs. 3 and 4 it will be seen that the compressor-cylinder has'ateach end a casting'B, forming a head in which is fitted one ormore'cylindric'al cages B (in the "present instance two,) each primarilyconsisting of inner and outer shells '6 and b, respectively. The spacebetween the cages B -and thesides of the head B communicates Withtheatmosphere through ports or openings f, "while there are ports f 2from the s'pace'betweenthe shells Hand 6 into thecylinde'r Band otherports f and f opening into the spacebetween said shells through'theinnerand outer shells, respectively. Thes'pa'ce between the outer shell'6 and'the cylinder head casting B is shut off from the remainder'of'theinterior of the space withinsaid casting by means of a ring 6 and theinterior of the cages B is in communication with this latter space,there being a delivery-pipe B formed ineach head-casting and'a coverB*"provided for each of the openings for the admissi'onof'the'valves andcages.

There is a cylindrical valve F,--p'referably the discharge-Valve, withineach of the cages B controlling the-flow'of 'fluid through the ports f,there being a valve-rod f for the same which pas'ses'through'astuffing-box f in the coverB and is connected to its appropriate leverethroughthe sliding-cr'oss-head, asabove described.

Sliding upon the outside cylindrical shell 6 of'each cage 'Bisan'annular valve Gr,preferably the inlet-valve, and there are twovalve-rods-g forevery valve passing through tubes 9, extending betweenthe ring b 'and the cover B*. These rods are pinned'to the arms 9projecting from the'shaft fi'andsupported on standards if, the saidshaft also having an operating-arm it" connected by links or rods if tothe wrist-plateb. It will be seen that the different sets of admissionand discharge valves are practically-the same in construction, therebeing-any desired number of the same for'each 'cylinder-head.

Both the -piston-valves -'F and the annular valves Gr have suitablepacking-rings f and 9 respectively, in their operating-faces and, asshown, are designed to be recipro'cated, so as tocontrol the flow offluidthrough their 'move away from it respective ports, the openingsfrom the space between the cage-rings 6 and 6 into thecompressor-cylinder being common to both of these. From Fig. 1 it willbe noted that the connections between the wrist-plate b and theoperating linkmotion are practically unchangeable relatively to oneanother, it being understood that the time of opening and closing thevalves G will. therefore always be nearly the same relatively to thepiston B in the compressor-cylinder. In other words, any one of saidvalves will always close as soon as the piston begins to move toward itand al Ways open shortly after the piston begins to The valve-gear,however, through which the valves F are operated, is so designed andassembled that the said valves always close just as the piston reachesthe end of its stroke and open to allow air to pass from thecompressor-cylinder at a variable point relatively to the piston-stroke,depending upon the position of the block 0 in the slotted portion a 'ofthe link-motion. By this means, therefore, it will be seen that inoperation the mechanism can be adjusted by shifting the block 0 in itsslot through the medium of the links and levers connected to theoperating-handle (P, so that the dischargevalve is made toopen to suitany pressure at which air is being delivered bythe compressor.

By means of the pointer and scale at, as shown in Fig. '1, 1am enabledat ag'lance to tell the exact position of' the discharge-valvesrelatively to the piston of the compressor or to set said valves so thattheair is delivered under any desired predetermined pressure. I"preferably calibrate the said scale either by experiment orcalculation, sothat the position of the pointer can be read as thenumber of pounds pressureat which the air is being delivered. Forexample, assuming the engine to be delivering airat five-poundspressure, the discharge-valve should open 'just'when the air beingcompressed in the cylinder B is under five-pounds pressure. In orderthat the discharge-valve F shall begin to open just at this point, thelink-block 0 should be in such a position in the slot a that the pointeron the end of the bell-crank lever cl will point to figure 5 on thegraduated scale. Similarly when the compressor is delivering air,say,=at ten pounds, the link-block 0 should be at a definite pointinslot (0*, so that the dischargevalve F will-open just when thepressure in the cylinderB has reached-ten pounds. When the link-blockc'is in proper position in the slota, then the pointer at the end oflever d will point to 10 on the graduated-scale (1*. SimilarlyWhatever'air-pressure is being delivered by the compressor, as indicatedby a pressure-gage, the pointer at the end of lever (Z being settoanumber corresponding to the gage-pressure will place the block 0 atthe proper position in slot at so that the discharge-valve F willopen-atthe proper point rod izo

relative to the position of the piston to deliver air at the particularpressure required. Since these positions of the pointer are always thesame for the same pressure, it follows that by manipulating the positionof the link-block 0 through the medium of its connections the said blockcan be so placed in slot (1* as to cause the discharge-valves F to openfor any desired pressure which is being delivered by the compressor. Theposition of link-block 0, corresponding to this particular pressure ofair or gas, is known by means of the pointer at the end of lever (Zpointing to the number on the graduated scale 1" corresponding to thesaid pressure.

In Fig. 1 although the graduated scale (Z is shown attached to theengine-frame opposite the pointer at the end of lever d it will beunderstood that I do not confine myself to any particular location forthis portion of my device, since it might be opposite theoperating-lever (P, as shown in dotted lines, Fig. 1, or might be placedon the face of the link a or at any other convenient point which can besatisfactorily graduated to indicate the position of the link-block c,and hence the pressure of the gas being delivered by the compressor.

Referring to cam 5 Fig. 1, 1 preferably, but not necessarily, operatethe dischargevalve through the medium of these cams, whoseoperating-shaft is connected by lever e and rod to wrist-plate 0, whichplate is oscillated in the well-known manner. The object of operatingthese valves by means of a cam-motion is twofold: first, to providemeans for taking up the necessary overtravel of the valve-operatingmechanism, while limiting the movement of the discharge-valves; second,by means of the cams the discharge-valves will be made both to open andclose quickly and have a period of rest at the end of each operation.The inlet-valve I show preferably operated by means of a wrist-plate andlever connections; but I do not limit myself to any special means ofoperating this valve, which could be operated by means of cams or anyother system of levers or by means of any other valve-operatingmechanism.

It will be noted that by the particular construction of valves and portsabove described 1 am enabled to greatly reduce the necessaryclearance-spaces in the heads of the compressor-cylinder, the use of thesingle set of portsf for both inlet and discharge resulting in a verydecided economy of space as well as a simplification of theconstruction.

It will be further noted that both the inlet and discharge valves are ofthe balanced variety, there being consequently no unnecessaryexpenditure of energy in operating them and a noticeable decrease in thewear on the several parts.

I claim as my invention- 1. The combination in a compressor of acylinder, a piston, a head for said cylinder including a structureprovided with a plurality of cylindrical surfaces having ports in them,independent inlet and discharge valves coacting with said ports, andoperating mechanism connected to the valves, there being also in thehead a port or ports opening into the cylinder and placed to serve asthe common means of communication between the ports of said surfaces andthe cylinder, substantially as described.

2. The combination of a compressor-cylinder and piston, heads to saidcylinder, a cylindrical cage structure for each head having independentseries of ports, of which one series opens to the interior of thecylinder, concentric annular valves operating on each cage structure forcontrolling the flow of fluid through independent sets of the portsthereof, and mechanism connected to the valves for operating the same,said ports from the cage structure to the cylinder being common to fluidpassing either of the valves, substantially as described.

3. The combination of a compressor-cylinder having heads each providedwith independent chambers, a cylindrical cage in each head havingindependent series of ports opening respectively into said chambers,there being other ports between the interior of the cage and thecylinder, with a cylindrical valve coacting with the ports between thecage and one of the chambers, and a second cylindrical valve coactingwith the ports between the same cage and the second of said chambers,said valves controlling the flow of fluid through the cage and beingprovided with means whereby they are operated, substantially asdescribed.

4. The combination of a compressor-cylinder, heads thereto, each havingtwo chambers,

one communicating with a receiver connection and the other communicatingwith the air or gas supply, a cylindrical cage within each head havingtwo sets of ports communicating respectively with the said two chambers,and a third set of ports connecting the interior of said cage with thecylinder, two annular valves operative upon the cage, each of saidvalves controlling the flow of fluid to one set of ports, with means foroperating the valves, substantially as described.

5. The combination of a compressor-chamber having connected with it ahead including a structure provided with two series of ports formedrespectively in two cylindrical surfaces thereof, there being a spacebetween said two surfaces communicating with said ports, a pair ofannular inlet and discharge valves constructed to respectively cooperatewith the series of ports, said structure being provided with a portconnecting the space between its cylindrical surfaces with the interiorof the cylinder, substantially as described.

6. The combination of a compressor-cylinder having heads, said headseach having two cylindrical casings of different diameters and .placedone within the other so as to form a cage, each casing having ports,there being also a port opening into the interior of the said cylinderand connected to the space between said two casings, and sliding valvescoacting with the ports of said casings to control the flow of fluidthrough the latter port to and from the cylinder, substantially asdescribed.

7 A compressor cylinder having heads, each provided with a pair ofsubstantially concentric cylindrical structures forming a cage, thespace between said structures opening into the cylinder, a series ofports in each strucscribing witnesses.

EDWIN G. RUST.

Witnesses WARREN POND, A. HELANDER.

